I Can Copy Any Talent in One Piece

Wapol watched helplessly as Noil caught up with the soldiers protecting him and cut them down until they screamed for their lives. He was so terrified he wished his parents had given him two more legs.

Noil easily caught up to him and drove an elbow straight into his iron jaw.

Wapol went down with a howl of pain. His bloated body rolled several times through the snow before stopping.

Doctor 20 trembled nearby. Noil walked over and planted a foot on Wapol as he struggled to get up.

Chopper was hiding behind a tree, his bright reindeer eyes quietly watching it all.

Noil set his blade against Wapol's neck and said coldly, "The world's better off without a scourge like you."

In the Original Story, Luffy had sent this man flying. But Wapol hadn't died. He had used his fruit power to make a comeback.

He had become rich, married a beautiful woman, become a king again, attended the Reverie, and gone right back to tormenting the people of his new country. He was the kind of scourge that lived forever.

Too bad for Wapol, Noil wasn't Luffy. He wasn't going to settle for sending him flying.

Noil raised his blade, aimed at Wapol's neck, and swept it up in one smooth motion.

Flesh and bone offered no resistance. The blade passed through, Wapol's face went ashen, and his head rolled into the pristine snow.

(Happy New Year! Happy New Year! What did you guys eat on New Year's Eve?)

Chopper

Wapol had only gone out to throw his weight around as usual. He had never expected some outsider to appear out of nowhere and kill him.

Wapol lay dead with his eyes open, his blood staining the snow red. Behind the tree, Chopper was so frightened that all his fur stood on end.

He shifted from Reindeer Form into Beast-Human Form with a pop. Now smaller, he tucked himself behind the tree and watched from hiding.

Noil wiped his blade and easily spotted the little fellow who had been hiding there all along.

He didn't need Observation Haki to find this cutie.

Chopper might as well not have hidden at all. Most of his furry body stuck out from behind the tree, as though he were afraid Noil wouldn't see him.

Most people hid their bodies behind cover and peeked out with their eyes.

But Chopper did the opposite: he hid one eye and left most of his body in plain sight.

It was the legendary tactic of "If I cover one eye, half my enemies disappear."

Who else could hide like that but Chopper?

Noil gave Chopper a friendly greeting. "Hey, little reindeer. What are you doing over there?"

"Wha?!"

Chopper looked horrified.

My hiding spot was perfect! How did he find me?

Noil walked toward him. Chopper was clearly frightened by the sight of blood on Noil's blade and kept backing away.

"Don't be scared. I know you can talk," Noil said gently, beckoning to him.

Chopper tilted his head and looked at him in confusion. "How do you know?"

Noil smiled. "Just a guess."

He held out his hand and politely introduced himself. "I'm Noil. I came to this island looking for a doctor."

Chopper eyed his outstretched hand, then timidly touched it with a hoof. "I'm Chopper."

"Kureha is already treating your companion."

"She is?" Noil said, delighted. In that case, he probably had no need for Doctor 20 and the others.

Grateful, Noil patted Chopper's little head beneath his pink hat. "Thank you, little guy."

Feeling the hand on his head, Chopper couldn't help asking, "You don't hate me?"

Noil paused. "Why would I?"

As though reminded of something painful, Chopper lowered his head and mumbled, "Because I have a blue nose, and I can talk like a human..."

Only then did Noil remember. Chopper's unusual blue nose had kept the other reindeer from accepting him since he was young.

Later, he had eaten a Devil Fruit and learned to speak and take Human Form, only for humans to reject him too.

Noil laughed and gently patted Chopper's back. "You're just a reindeer who ate a Devil Fruit."

"You're not a monster. There are plenty of little guys like you on the Grand Line."

To the ignorant villagers, Chopper probably did look like some kind of monster.

But across the vast sea, almost no one with any experience would care about Chopper's species or appearance.

To most people, a reindeer who had eaten a Devil Fruit and turned into a reindeer-man wasn't all that different from a member of the Mink Tribe.

Chopper's big eyes lit up. He looked at Noil with eager hope. "Really?!"

Noil nodded. Chopper's round little face glowed as he murmured to himself, "I'm not a monster. There are others like me..."

Important person befriended. Rewards issued: Universal Talent Copy Card ×1, Repair Technique ×1.

The system rewards had arrived!

Noil understood now. If a character from the story liked him enough to exchange a few words, that basically counted as befriending them.

It also meant Chopper had let down his guard, at least a little.

But what was this Repair Technique? He had never heard of it...

Was it something like a healing technique?

Chopper was a doctor, so Noil wouldn't mind receiving a skill that helped with treatment.

At least... the damned system hadn't given him a box of cotton candy...

System: !

Noil steadied the excited little Chopper and used the system to inspect his talents.

Name: Chopper

Cute Creature Grows Up: Purple quality. Rejected by all sides in childhood because of his species, but his affinity with others gradually increases as he grows older. Once everyone adores him, he can get along with any species.

Panacea Dream: Purple quality. Driven to become a doctor and create a panacea. Learns medicine more efficiently, has a greatly increased surgical success rate, and produces more effective medicines.

Demon Possession · Human-Human: Blue quality. Ate the Zoan Devil Fruit known as the Human-Human Fruit and can become human.

Sea's Rejection: Purple talent. While gaining demonic power, he was also afflicted by a demonic curse. The sea rejects him because of it. Contact with seawater leaves him powerless and unable to use his abilities at will.

The talents were fairly standard. Almost all his points had gone into being cute and practicing medicine instead of fighting.

Still, with the Rumble Ball he had developed himself, Chopper could alter the wavelength of his fruit power and unlock stronger forms.

After all, Chopper was famously "worth cotton candy, but ready to fight foes worth hundreds of millions."

Noil called to Chopper. "Come on. It's over."

Chopper nodded hesitantly, then looked back at Wapol's body.

Noil saw his expression and didn't hurry him. He simply waited.

Chopper was probably thinking of Hiriluk, who had been like a father to him...

On the winter island, snow fell thickly as Robin frowned and drank her bitter medicine a little at a time.

Kureha sat nearby with her legs crossed, swigging from a bottle of liquor. She let out a satisfied breath and said:

"That inhibitor was well made. Given a little more time, you probably could've developed an antidote to this poison yourself."

Robin finished the bitter antidote. "Thank you, Doctor."

Kureha waved it off. Just then, Noil returned with Chopper.

Chopper's little hooves pattered adorably as he hurried to Kureha and hugged her leg. "Doctor Kureha, Wapol's dead!"

"Dead?!" Kureha stared at Noil. "You killed a king?"

Noil shrugged. So he had killed him. What of it?

Did trash like Wapol think he would get another chance to make a comeback? Dream on.

Noil looked at Robin. She gave him a reassuring glance, and he immediately understood.

Kureha recovered from her shock and laughed heartily. "Young people these days sure are something!"

Looking at Kureha, Noil suddenly had an idea. He couldn't help asking:

"Doctor Kureha, would you come aboard my ship?"

Kureha rolled her eyes. "What is it with you young people and ideas like that?"

Noil froze. What was wrong with the idea?

Had she misheard him?

He said aboard his ship, not into his...

(Happy New Year! Noil and little Chopper bow to you all!)

Hey! Eagle!

After Noil explained himself, Kureha still turned down his invitation to join the crew.

She had no desire to go adventuring at sea, and she couldn't leave Chopper behind.

Noil hadn't invited Chopper because he thought the reindeer was too young.

Chopper might have a remarkable talent for medicine, but recruiting him would make Noil feel like a crooked boss hiring child labor.

Besides, Noil had no intention of building his crew the way Luffy's group had. If he recruited anyone, he wanted them strong from the start.

Then he could find a few underlings to handle the chores. Being captain, navigator, cook, and fighter all at once was too much.

With Robin's hidden ailment cured, Noil bought food and other supplies for the ship in the village.

Kureha also took Robin shopping for a huge pile of fashionable clothes.

It hadn't even been a year since Noil set sail, and the bounty money he had saved over several years was almost gone.

And that was after he had stolen all of Nami's private savings before leaving...

Good thing his buddy Crocodile had generously funded him. Otherwise, Noil would have gone broke ages ago, let alone been able to spend so freely now.

After they loaded the supplies aboard, quite a few villagers came to see them off at the shore.

The death of their king hadn't brought the people a trace of fear or grief.

If anything, they looked ready to set off firecrackers, slaughter a pig, and invite the neighbors over to celebrate.

Chopper came to see them off too. When no one was watching, Noil gently patted his head. "I'm leaving, little Chopper. You should go see the world someday too."

Chopper nodded firmly. "I'll find companions too, and become the kind of pirate Hiriluk talked about."

Noil gave a rueful smile. The pirates Hiriluk had spoken of weren't what this world usually meant by pirates.

People like Luffy, who cherished freedom and feared no authority, were the pirates Hiriluk and Chopper admired.

By the usual definition, though, Blackbeard was a pirate—and an outstanding example of one.

Greedy, ruthless, patient, and resilient, he had enormous ambition and the gambler's heart shared by so many vicious criminals.

Even among the other great pirates, Whitebeard, who "wanted sons," and Big Mom, who "wanted a family," didn't fit most people's image of a pirate.

Noil didn't try to explain any of that to young Chopper. It was too complicated; Chopper would have to figure it out for himself someday.

After saying goodbye to Drum Island, Noil and Robin set sail again, continuing their journey as a pair.

Being a lone man and woman together made everyday life a little awkward.

But Noil was more than happy with the arrangement~

Following the magnetic bearing of the Log Pose, Noil's next destination was Sky Island.

How to get there was another problem.

As for the Knock Up Stream that Luffy and the Others had ridden, Noil doubted his ship could survive it...

The Going Merry had taken serious damage from that trip. What chance did Noil's old ship have without a ship spirit?